A watchdog group eyeing federal spending at the Savannah River site, a nuclear complex in Aiken, S.C., is again raising concerns about the long-delayed, $7.7-billion Mixed-Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility project after the contractor filed a "routine" request to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a 10-year construction extension.
"The request to extend the construction license of the MOX plant is nothing short of an admission that the project as conceived has turned into a costly failure," Tom Clements, director of Savannah River Site Watch, said in a press statement. "A 10-year license extension could mean that the MOX project will just slowly drag on with no clear schedule and that the endless costs overruns will continue."